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The Order of the Hands of Fate
__TOC__ The Order of the Hands of Fate are an elusive group of specialised assassins, traditionally used by the Sun Kingdom royalty to keep their lords in check. Most mysterious disappearances can be attributed to the Hands of Fate, targets have ranged from all three kingdoms and from Astorians to poultry. History Formed before even the first era to specifically remove other tribal leaders for easier conquering, the Order have been under the employ of the Sun Kingdom’s royalty for decades. Eventually around the third era the Order was distanced from the crown and changed into a more freelance guild of assassins. The Order has remained extremely secretive throughout their history, enough for the general public to be unaware of their existence. Faction Dynamics Within the Order of the Hands of Fate, each individual member are referred to as Hands, the Hands follow a strict code of honour which they apply to themselves and their work. Code of honour * Hands are forbidden to physically meet both their other members and contractors. * Hands must give the target a warning any time before an assassination attempt is made. * Hands must complete a contract once it is accepted. * Hands must never admit to being a Hand or expose the Order. * Hands must never kill the innocent or the undeserving. Breaking specific codes results in different punishments; Meeting another Hand must result in a duel to the death, the victor has their honour is fully restored. Meeting a contractor requires the contractor’s death, after which the Hands honour is partly restored. Killing a target without any prior warning results in the Hand being sent to a Sun kingdom prisoner pit. Discarding a previously accepted contract, exposing the Order and killing an innocent or undeserving person requires the death of the Hand, either by killing themselves or another member doing so. Contracts As physical meetings with a Hand is out of the question the core method of communicating with any Order members is achieved through carrier hawks or falcons, where a small message is tied to a specially trained bird’s leg. These birds can be found freely roaming various forests and a special whistle is required to attract them, without the whistle the birds are trained to pull off the message. After a message is successfully attached the birds know to fly and find their designated Hand. Should a Hand accept a contract they will shoot a notched arrow near the contractor as a sign, if the contractor does not get a sign within a month then it is safe to assume the contract was not accepted. When writing a contract the minimal amount of information required is the target’s name, a place where they frequent the most, usually their home and how much the contractor is willing to pay. Other details can include whether the assassination should be in a public place, a favoured method of death, whether the target should be tortured beforehand, what torture should be done, and the reason as to why the contract is being made. Once a contract is accepted the contractor should put the payment in the place outlined in the contract 3 days after they received the confirmation sign. Once payment is exchanged the contract is officially accepted, a contractor may miss this time frame once, missing it initially means the Hand gives the contractor another sign. Any time before attempting to assassinate a target a Hand commonly send a bird to circle them for a day, through other methods to send a message have been used. This time allows the target a head start or to sort their affairs before their potential death. While a Hand will follow through with an accepted contract until completion, should a Hand die while attempting to assassinate a target, the target then is granted immunity from any further contracts. Category:Faction